DeKalb Times

Sycamore CUSD 427 in Sycamore receives $629 per student from the state to fund pensions for public school teachers and administrators – the most in DeKalb County, according to a Wirepoints analysis of Teacher Retirement System data.

At the bottom, Hiawatha CUSD 426 in Kirkland receives $423 per student.

Wirepoints examined the system in which school districts pay salaries to teachers and administrators, but not pensions, which are funded by state tax dollars.

"It’s a scheme that allows districts to spend more money on salaries and perks than they otherwise would," Wirepoints reported. "Wealthy districts – like those on the North Shore – benefit far more from the state’s pension payments than poor districts do."

Almost 50 percent of what the state pays toward education has gone to teacher pensions in recent years, according to Wirepoints. Bigger pensions in wealthy districts means there’s less money to adequately fund districts with less property wealth.

Sycamore CUSD 427, which relies on the state for 23 percent of its revenue and spends $11,991 per student, ranks 166 out of 848 districts for how much the state provides per student toward pensions.

Hiawatha CUSD 426 relies on the state for 27 percent of its revenue and spends $10,673 per student. It ranks 614th in the state.

The analysis shows Rondout SD 72 in Lake County received the biggest subsidy in the state and Earlville CUSD 9 in LaSalle County received the smallest subsidy.

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DeKalb school districts receiving state-provided pension subsidies

District	County	City	Average daily attendance	Percent of district revenue provided by the state	EAV (taxable property) per student	District spending per student	State-provided pension subsidy per student*
Sycamore CUSD 427	Dekalb	Sycamore	3,582	23%	$120,699	$11,991	$629
Indian Creek CUSD 425	Dekalb	Shabbona	663	10%	$228,563	$12,242	$627
Hinckley Big Rock CUSD 429	Dekalb	Hinckley	654	11%	$202,879	$13,564	$571
DeKalb CUSD 428	Dekalb	DeKalb	5,812	28%	$103,111	$12,896	$563
Sandwich CUSD 430	Dekalb	Sandwich	1,930	29%	$132,721	$12,529	$529
Genoa Kingston CUSD 424	Dekalb	Genoa	1,670	34%	$98,461	$11,162	$505
Somonauk CUSD 432	Dekalb	Somonauk	753	20%	$152,107	$11,027	$469
Hiawatha CUSD 426	Dekalb	Kirkland	508	27%	$127,829	$10,673	$423

Source: Source: Illinois State Board of Education, ILEARN data 2016; Total earnings data received from a 2018 FOIA request to the Teachers' Retirement System; TRS actuarial report 2017; Wirepoints calculations

*Proxy of the pension subsidy provided to each school district. District subsidy is calculated by taking the TRS employer normal cost in 2017 ($871 million) and multiplying it by each district's share of TRS total employee earnings. To calculate the subsidy per student, each district's share is divided by their average daily attendance.